Boomjack

Boomjack

Support

Boomjack plays your music on every iPhone and iPad nearby at the same moment. There are no accounts and no servers, so nearly everything that goes wrong is one of the things below. If it isn't, write to support@okbyus.com.

What you need

• An iPhone or iPad running iOS or iPadOS 17 or later for every speaker — up to eight listening, plus the one on air.
• Wi-Fi switched on on every one. You do not join a network and you do not need the internet — the phones talk straight to each other — but iOS uses the Wi-Fi radio to do it.
• Songs of your own, as files: MP3, AAC (M4A), Apple Lossless, WAV, AIFF, FLAC or CAF. A demo song is built in to try it with.

Getting songs in

• The Boomjack folder. Open the Files app, go to On My iPhone › Boomjack (or On My iPad), and save or copy songs into it. From a Mac, plug the phone in, select it in Finder, open the Files tab and drag songs onto Boomjack. Everything in the folder is on the machine's list every time.
• Anywhere else: BROWSE. On the machine, BROWSE opens Apple's picker. Choose songs or a whole folder — elsewhere on the phone, in iCloud Drive, or another cloud service. Songs still in iCloud Drive download as they're needed.
• Apple Music and Spotify songs can't be played. Their downloads are copy-protected, so no app but theirs can open them.

Going on air

1. Tap BROADCAST. The first time, Boomjack shows a short notice about what you may play; tap GO ON AIR.
2. Pick a saved mixtape (on the iPad, a record), or make a new one on the green machine: UP/DOWN move through your songs, SELECT puts one on the tape, then RECORD TAPE (on the iPad, PRESS RECORD) and give it a name.
3. Press PLAY on the cassette player. On the iPad, touch the record on the turntable.

Nothing plays until you press play. EJECT takes the tape out and brings your mixtapes back; your mixtapes and records are kept for next time. On the iPad, the keys beside the eject key go back a record and on to the next. The station's play key also works from the lock screen and from a speaker's own play button.

Tuning in

On every other phone, tap TUNE IN. The radio finds stations nearby by itself; each sits at its own place on the dial, showing the mixtape it's playing. Touch one to tune to it, and the song on now comes up with it. The sound comes up as soon as that phone is in step with the room — usually within a few seconds.

The phones can't find each other

• Leave Wi-Fi switched on on every phone — see above.
• Allow Local Network. Boomjack asks the first time you tap BROADCAST or TUNE IN. If it was turned down, the app says so with an Open Settings button; or go to Settings › Boomjack and switch Local Network on.
• Come closer. The phones talk directly, so walls and distance matter. Within the same room is best.
• Eight is the most. A station plays to up to eight other phones at once.
• Still nothing? Quit Boomjack on both phones and open it again.

Bluetooth and AirPlay speakers, and TVs

Boomjack times a Bluetooth or AirPlay speaker, or a TV connected by HDMI, by itself: for a few seconds it listens, through the phone's microphone, to a few soft ticks or to the music. Until the speaker is in step it stays quiet — so the room never hears it out of time. It times only while Boomjack is open on the screen.

• Allow the microphone when Boomjack asks. If it was turned down, go to Settings › Boomjack and switch Microphone on. Nothing the microphone hears is kept.
• If the speaker stays quiet, make sure it's loud enough for the phone to hear and the room is not too noisy, then reconnect the speaker.

A song won't play

• MISSING on the machine means the song's file has been moved, renamed or deleted. Put it back where it was and it plays again.
• A song from iCloud Drive that hasn't downloaded yet shows a small cloud on the machine, and takes a moment the first time.
• Copy-protected songs (Apple Music, Spotify) can't be played.

Playing in public

Playing music to the public — in a bar, restaurant, shop or gym, or at a public event — needs a public-performance license: in the US from ASCAP, BMI, SESAC or GMR, and elsewhere from the equivalent body. Getting one is up to whoever runs the place.

Contact

support@okbyus.com — tell us which iPhone or iPad, and what happened.